ALBUM REVIEW – THE FREE MUSIC: THE FREE MUSIC (VOL 1)

Habibi Funk is a German-based record label that has been dedicated to releasing an eclectic range of high-quality unknown or neglected music from the Arab world since 2015. Their latest excellent release marks a departure for Habibi Funk as the acts they featured previously experimented with soul or funk for a couple of tracks before […]
It might be glib to suggest that anyone apart from government sponsored purveyors of dodgy PPE had a good pandemic but Ajay Saggar definitely used the time productively. Between January 2021 and June 2022, he spent most days at his Soundation Studios recording and mixing music aided by a top team of collaborators, the result […]

ALBUM REVIEW – BHAJAN BHOY: TO LOVE IS TO LOVE (VOL.1 & 2)

ALBUM REVIEW: GNOOMES – AX OX

A psychedelic twist on electronic music is what Gnoomes have been carefully crafting over their four albums, now having fled their home country of Russia, and relocated elsewhere, their latest album is awash with hypnotic electronica. Opening track ‘Ural Sun’ sounds like a dystopian dream, with deep rumbling sounds which build into a mountainous soundscape […]
It takes bravado to open an album with a track that feels like a close sibling to an all-time classic symphonic pop song, ‘I Saw The Light’. With its piano line echoing Todd Rundgren’s melody, indulging in jigs with dual saxes, a brilliant dip as most the instrumentation temporarily drops out leaving a solitary piano […]

ALBUM REVIEW – H HAWKLINE: MILK FOR FLOWERS

ALBUM REVIEW – JEN CLOHER: I AM THE RIVER, THE RIVER IS ME

Jen Cloher’s latest album is an unashamedly political record but that should not conjure images of angry, shouty music. Thankfully, what is on offer is a warm collection of songs which celebrates community and acknowledges creating art as an act of resistance,  The opening track on ‘I Am The River, The River is Me‘ evolved […]
Over seventeen studio albums Lawrence has given us some of the finest off kilter guitar pop melodies with his bands Felt, Denim and Go Kart Mozart, now with his latest project Mozart Estate, his brand of wonky pop takes another turn as he focuses firmly on modern day consumerism.  Recent single ‘Relative Poverty’ finds him […]

ALBUM REVIEW: MOZART ESTATE – POP-UP! KER-CHING! AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF MODERN SHOPPING

ALBUM REVIEW: GRACIE ABRAMS – GOOD RIDDANCE

Following the success of her EP’s ‘This Is What It Feels Like’ (2021) and ‘Minor’ (2020), Abram’s debut album ‘Good Riddance’ was a guaranteed winner. Each track takes us on a journey to a new part of the story told breakup via soothing vocals and melodic riffs, I was hooked from the minute it began. […]
With eleven tracks of pure rapture, Inhaler makes the wait so unbelievably worth it. ‘Cuts & Bruises’ is an album that needs to be listened to, screamed to, danced to, and, at a minimum, shared across the entire universe. Following the release of their debut album, ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’, which hit no. […]

ALBUM REVIEW: INHALER – CUTS & BRUISES

ALBUM REVIEW: DANNY GOFFEY – BRYAN MOONE’S DISCO PUNK

We can’t deny it now can we, these 90’s reunion tours are getting old. But, sometimes when you’ve got such a great drum beat behind the band as well as the vocals, as in the case of Supergrass’ Danny Goffey, the prospect of a new project is a very exciting prospect indeed. I suppose we […]
The Raincoats are a band whose influence dwarfed their record sales. Most famously, their late 1970s creative post-punk ethos inspired Kurt Cobain and they originally reformed to open for Nirvana, plans scuppered by his death. However, they have influenced subsequent generations as I witnessed when they shared bills with Bis (during their first wave of […]

ALBUM REVIEW – GINA BIRCH: I PLAY MY BASS LOUD